Chapter 581: A Divine Artifact Is Born

Seeing that the blade blank was finally ready for forging, the old blacksmith reached into the furnace with his golden-glowing arm and pulled out the red-hot mass. His son immediately cracked open another jug of Flowing Cloud Spring Water and poured it over the blazing metal.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The second strike of Ask Heaven Six Strikes landed, perfectly mirroring the first. When the final blow was delivered, the massive hammer shattered into pieces once again. The brilliant glow faded from the metal, leaving the blade black once more, and the old blacksmith returned it to the furnace to heat it for the next stage.

The process continued again and again. Marcus pumped the bellows with everything he had, sweat pouring down his face and soaking through his clothes, while the girls gathered around him and watched the old blacksmith work with barely contained anticipation. None of them wanted to miss the moment the weapon was finally completed.

At last, they reached the sixth strike, the final stage of the forging process.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The hammer shattered one final time. At that very instant, the blade, which had been surrounded by an icy blue flame throughout the entire forging process, suddenly erupted with blinding light. The radiance spread outward like a flower unfurling, layer after layer of blue brilliance flooding through the workshop before shooting upward through the skylight and into the night sky.

Every resident of Dragon’s Roar Town could see the pillar of light. The Blackflame Ice Flower Sword had been forged. The overwhelming aura and dazzling radiance left no room for doubt. A Divine Artifact had been born.

Everyone held their breath as they stared at the blade in the old blacksmith’s hands. The brilliant blue light continued to flicker for more than ten seconds before gradually fading, leaving the weapon looking almost deceptively calm in the old man’s grasp.

"Marcus, is it a Divine Artifact?"

The girls were even more anxious than Marcus. This time, it wasn’t Amber or Jade asking. Firebrand stood beside him, practically vibrating with excitement as she waited for his answer.

Over the past few days, Icefall had remained as cold and quiet as ever, barely speaking more than a few words to him. Firebrand, however, had warmed up considerably. She was already calling him Marcus, just like Amber and Jade, and the change in her attitude was obvious enough that even Marcus couldn’t help but notice it.

He glanced down at her slender figure, taking in her graceful curves and the bright smile on her beautiful face, and caught a faint whiff of her fresh, sweet perfume. His thoughts wandered for a moment to the blue swimsuit he’d seen her wearing before. ’That was dangerous territory.’

"Should be," he replied, taking a breath as that intoxicating scent reached him again.

Marcus had come to understand Firebrand and Icefall much better over the past few days. Both girls were well-behaved and sensible despite their occasional tempers, but they had grown up in wealthy families, and that upbringing had given them a natural pride and a certain wariness toward strangers.

Their earlier conflict with him hadn’t really been because they disliked him. They simply weren’t accustomed to interacting with unfamiliar boys, and Marcus’s habit of teasing them had rubbed them the wrong way from the beginning.

Anya had even told him that he was the first boy who had ever managed to make the two girls genuinely angry. With anyone else, they would have simply ignored him. They wouldn’t have considered him worth the effort of getting upset over.

Marcus looked at Firebrand’s graceful figure, her beautiful face, and the bright, unguarded smile she was giving him now, and couldn’t help thinking back to the way they’d first met.

She could certainly be a little spoiled at times, but the more he understood her, the more he realized that it came from how sheltered and innocent she’d been rather than from genuine arrogance.

The fact that she and Icefall had gradually lowered their guard around him made him feel strangely pleased. He really was the first guy they’d ever allowed themselves to get close to, and that thought stirred something warm in his chest. Acting on impulse, Marcus reached toward Firebrand, intending to take her soft hand in his.

Before he could, however, a system prompt suddenly appeared. The timing was almost absurdly perfect. Just as the old blacksmith’s work finally reached completion, the notification interrupted his little attempt at getting closer to Firebrand.

Ding!

[Congratulations, player Stonehaven. You and the two blacksmiths have jointly forged the Divine Artifact: Blackflame Ice Flower Sword. Your Forging proficiency has increased. Strength +20, Constitution +10. Because you focused intently on the old blacksmith’s techniques during forging, you have been fortunate enough to learn the forging skill: Ask Heaven One Strike!]

’That worked!’ Marcus had expected to receive some sort of reward for successfully participating in the forging process, but he hadn’t expected anything this good.

His massive Strength of 1000 had certainly helped, and he had also spent the entire process working the bellows without holding back. On top of that, his high Luck had apparently triggered an unexpected reward, allowing him to learn a forging skill directly from the old blacksmith’s technique. ’This was fantastic!’

"It’s a Divine Artifact!" Marcus announced excitedly to the girls. Finally, a Divine Artifact, and he had actually helped forge it.

He turned his attention back to the finished weapon in the old blacksmith’s hands. Its overall appearance hadn’t changed dramatically from the original blade blank, but the transformation was still striking. It now resembled a beautiful black ice flower wrapped in brilliant blue flames, and even from several steps away, Marcus could feel the intense chill radiating from its surface.

The blacksmith and his son were still admiring their handiwork, so Marcus didn’t interrupt them. Instead, he opened his skill panel and checked the rewards he’d received.

’Nice!’

He couldn’t help celebrating inwardly when he saw the result. His Forging proficiency had jumped all the way to Intermediate 95%, putting him only a step away from Advanced. Even better, Ask Heaven One Strike was a surprisingly powerful forging skill.

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Ask Heaven One Strike: Passive trigger skill. Learned from the Ironwood family’s Ask Heaven Six Strikes. When forging, has a 50% chance to trigger "BANG BANG BANG," delivering three strikes on each side without affecting the original forging process. Maximizes material compatibility and increases the forging success rate by 10%.

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Marcus couldn’t have asked for a better reward.

"Lord, your Divine Artifact..."

The old blacksmith and his son had finally finished inspecting the weapon. With expressions full of respect, they carefully handed the sword over to Marcus. He accepted it, and the girls immediately crowded around him to examine the weapon they had all just watched being forged.

—

Blackflame Ice Flower Sword: Purple Divine Artifact

Type: One-handed weapon

Requirements: Strength 300, Agility 300, Level 50

Forged a thousand years ago by an Iceflame Black Serpent Man using its cultivation core, the stem and leaves of a Millennium Blackflame Ice Flower, and three pieces of Ten-Thousand-Year Black Crystal to create the original blade blank.

After a millennium of tempering and refinement, the sword was finally completed using the Mythic Forging skill Ask Heaven Six Strikes, incorporating Water Dragon Jade and Heaven-Cleaving Explosive Stone into the final forging process.

Attributes:

Attack: 1000

Health Regeneration: +100

Mana Regeneration: +50

Movement Speed: +3

Attack Speed: +2

Strength: +100

Constitution: +50

Agility: +100

Focus: +20

Water-element Attack: +50%

Critical Hit: +30%

Lethal Strike: +5%

Attack: +20%

Skills:

Iceflame Wreath: Passive. Attacks carry powerful Freezing and Slow effects that hinder enemy movement. Frozen targets also suffer bleeding damage. Effectiveness depends on the target’s Water resistance.

Blackflame Ice Flower: Active. Releases a brilliant blue radiance from the sword that blooms outward in layers resembling frozen flowers. Deals massive consecutive damage to all enemies within ten meters, with an 80% chance to Knockback. Has a 30% chance to Stun. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Ultimate, Ice Flower Blossom: Active. Surrounds the user with a shield of blooming blue ice flowers, placing the user in a powerful defensive state for five seconds. Cooldown: 1 hour.

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